Training/Playing with weaker players

A couple of new guys started to coming to the place where I play table tennis. I am very happy that there are more people now and the place is a lot livelier, but I am afraid that the quality of my game will drop. The main problem is that, they don't want to do drills too much (like we do some drills for half an hour) and just want to play games. Another problem is in the warmup that they don't use weaker shots, actually the first time I warmed up against one of the players I was feeling wrist pains the next day, since he was playing the balls as hard as he could. And again not controlling the power of his shots means that we don't have rallies longer than 3-4 balls. It doesn't really bother me that they can't place the ball properly since that helps with my footwork, but when they outright hit the net or smash the ball out of the table I feel like I cannot improve my game.

In games, it's hard again. When I play seriously they don't take more than 3-4 points off of me per game, but it feels like they don't want to play when that happens so I start holding back. Is this also bad for my game. My idea was to practice tactics and play less powerful shots, but more controlled ones, focusing on placement.

I was just wondering what your thoughts are and if you can give me some advice.

Cheers, Kristiyan

Hi Kristiyan,

Try to utilise any time on the table as well as possible.  It can be challenging at times.

I think you are on the right track by experimenting with tactics and focus on specific shots.

There is always something that you will be able to do.